


I Want To Kiss Your Beard

by CardboarianNights



Series: Snek!Jack AU [1]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Animal Hybrid AU, Fluffy, Gabe's perspective, M/M, Mutual Pining, Omnic Crisis-Era, Snake/Naga!Jack Morrison, accidental drug-induced confession played for laughs, happy endings, snuggling to stay alive in the bitter cold
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-13 11:46:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9122146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CardboarianNights/pseuds/CardboarianNights
Summary: Shit goes belly up during a recon mission during the omnic crisis that leaves Gabriel Reyes and Jack Morrison in the medical tents to recover. Only thing is that Jack is doped up on painkillers from his surgery and accidentally says something to Gabriel that has the commander looking at the snake/human hybrid under a new light.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Just a cute one shot!

Gabriel groaned as he carried his best friend, Jack Morrison, the best he could manage as the naga coiled his body around him, his face nuzzled into the crook under the man’s chin. Normally he didn’t have a problem carrying some of the other humanoid hybrids of the strike team, due to his enhanced strength as a super soldier, but Jack Morrison pretty much weighed three hundred plus pounds with how goddamn thick his long tail was. He had to at least be fifteen feet long from head to the tip of his tail and that was without the fucking body armor on top of that generous weight estimation.

“I swear to fucking god I am putting you on a goddamn diet, Morrison!” Gabriel growled as he booked it across the street while the omnics they were fighting showered bullets down on him while he carried the heavily injured naga’s human half in his arms.

Maybe if he was half gigantic horse like Reinhardt was then it would be a problem falling back with Morrison but, no, he’s gotta carry that weight on him and pray that any bullets that hit them actually hit Gabriel since it was easier to dig bullets out of him then goddamn Jack Morrison’s tail! 

Seriously, fuck scales and how tedious it is to rip them all out for surgical prep on this guy!

“I’m really sorry, Gabe.” Jack breathed weakly, trying to not panic or squeeze Gabriel more than he had to while a good two feet of his tail dragged on the pavement behind them, scales taking more abuse than nature intended as they were grinded down on bumpy terrain. This had to be the sixth time in ten minutes that Jack apologized to Gabriel and it was REALLY getting on his nerves for reasons other than the obvious.

“You fucking get yourself shot on recon duty and a fucking warzone opens up on us! It’s practically expected with the shit luck we’re having, Morrison!” Gabriel yells but only so Jack can he him over the gunfire as he ducks behind a building for cover. Amari and the rest of the team aren’t too far away since he can hear Reinhardt’s boisterous laughter on the horizon as they draw closer. God, he never thought he would be so happy to hear the giant prancing clydesdale hybrid stomping his hooves into the pavement while he swung that obnoxious hammer of his but he was.

Jack got shot by sniper fire, the bullet piercing through his chest armor into his rib cage, and he was exerting himself by trying to hold himself up around Gabriel so he wouldn’t have to carry so much of him in his arms. He didn’t have time to address the burning in his muscles as he continued to plow forward in his charge, desperate to save his friend’s life and not lose another squad member under his command if he could help it. Thank god the moment he turned the corner Ana and the rest of the team were there and rushing over to cover them as Gabriel continue to pound the pavement, Ana rushing with him as they have to get past the battle line and to the area where the support team was bunkered in at a few blocks away.

“What happened?!” She yelled, again to be heard over the gunfire and not at Gabriel, though he honestly felt like she should be chewing him the fuck out for letting Jack actually move forward into a building instead of checking the inside himself first.  
“Sniper got him while we were on recon! Did you not hear my report, Amari?!”

“Electrical interference on our end! Liao didn’t get the channel secure until five minutes ago!” She explained and Gabriel found himself chewing more viciously at the wound he was making on the inside of his cheek from stress.

“Page the medical team to be on standby!” He ordered and she immediately brought her hand up to the commlink in her ear to issue the order on his behalf while his hands were full with a blonde snake.

They arrived at the medical tent with the surgeons all prepped and ready as Jack was quickly unraveled off Gabriel’s body the moment he and Ana got into the tent. Jack’s claws stung as they pulled his fingers off Gabriel’s arms, he hadn’t even noticed the naga was clutching onto him so hard until the moment as they put him down on the surgical table and started stripping of Jack’s armor. 

Ana had to help him walk out of the surgical tent and into the general medical one next to it as his leg muscles locked up, refusing to work from how hard he pushed himself past his limits. It was even worse when the doctors got his boots and pants off to try to manually relax the muscles by moving his foot around. It was pretty much the worst Charlie Horse he ever experienced in his life and the pain wouldn’t fucking STOP. Like someone stabbing rusted butter knives into his calves and lower leg muscles and continually twisted them. They gave him heavy duty pain killers after he would stop screaming after five minutes.

Irony had Jack heal up faster than Gabriel did when they had to surgically go in and force the muscles to comply with multiple precise cuts before sewing his legs back together. The naga resting on the bed next to the commander while Gabriel continued to monitor the electronic reports his scouts were sending him on his tablet, updating the holographic map constantly on where new Bastion units were setting up shop and patrolling. Work doesn’t stop just because you’re forced to heal in a bed.

“Gabe…” 

A weak voice drew him out of his mind and glance over at Jack in the bed- Well, several beds next to him, pushed together to accommodate his massive tail. Jack was higher than a fucking kite as he saw Gabriel looking at him and slowly smiled, blue eyes completely unfocused.

“Yeah, Jack?” Gabriel humored him as he looked back down at the data pad before him to check new reports from the front lines.

“I think… You’re really handsome.” The blonde admitted sloppily, drawing a chuckle from Gabriel.

“That’s cute, Morrison. Try closing your eyes and getting some sleep.” He spoke dismissively, not putting any weight into the doped up soldier’s words.

“Wha...?” Jack asks after a few brief moments, prompting Gabriel to glance over at him. His brows were furrowed together in confusion, still laying back against the slanted bed with his head rolled over to the side to look at Gabriel.

Another amused smile lifted Gabriel’s lips. “Don’t hurt yourself thinking too hard, Morrison.”

“But, I just- really think you’re amazing- and that I want to kiss your beard…?”

Gabriel brought a hand up to hide his smile as he let off an ugly snort of laughter. He was so tempted to lift his datapad and just record this whole thing to show to Jack later when he was in the right state of mind but knew better than to do so as his commanding officer.

“Why do you want to kiss my beard, Morrison? I’m pretty sure I haven’t washed my face in three days.” He spoke with a mischievous grin on his face, wanting to milk the conversation for all it was worth. Jack Morrison was a very soft spoken humanoid that only really talked if he felt comfortable and secure, he was more of a listener than a speaker, something Gabriel could appreciate off the clock when they went drinking together with Amari.

“Cause…” Jack trailed off for a moment, giving Gabriel a ten yard stare before speaking again. “You haven’t washed your face in three days…?”

Gabriel was practically wheezing at this point, pinpricks of tears forming in the corners of his eyes as he clutch his hand over his mouth to contain his laughter. Jack just blinked at Gabriel slowly, eyes still unfocused but his brows pushed together like he was offended.

“Did you know- know that I love you?” Jack suddenly asked and Gabriel felt the data pad flop onto his lap. His eyes squinted harshly, trying to look at Gabriel as he was completely blindsided by the confession and not able to walk away from it like he wanted to at the moment.

“Okay. That’s enough, Jack. You clearly need to sleep if drugs are making you this loopy.” Gabriel chuckled nervously as he fumbled with his datapad, picking it off his lap and trying to focus on work. 

Jack let out a disappointed sigh (most likely from being told to go back to sleep) and laid his head back against the mattress and faced forward, drifting off incredibly fast. Again, a byproduct of the drugs along with his impaired judgement. Gabriel’s fingers clutched the plastic case firmly as he kept finding himself glancing over at Jack, unable to work as his mind replayed and overanalyzed everything, like usual. 

He was so fucked if that was a legitimate confession from Jack.

\--

Things got a lot better when they were able to drive the omnic out of the city and retake it; an insane accomplishment that they were able to fully enjoy once the city was refortified and they were able to go back to base. Gabriel fell asleep on the flight home, right between Jack and Ana while the others talked and made plans for a merry celebration. He was too tired to give a fuck, it always ended up like that. On a mission? He rarely ever slept? Flight home and what little time they were allowed to relax between deployments? He slept like death itself.

“Ana, stop!” Jack whispered harshly at the sniper to Gabriel’s left as he dozed lightly, never really falling into a deep sleep unless he was certain they were out of danger (which was never). Gabriel heard an amused chuckle to his right and a gentle poke to his cheek. Jack let out a frustrated noise and he felt something shift lightly under his other cheek. 

Gabriel was way too comfortable with where he was so he let Ana badger Jack by trying to wake him up since they were both adults and he was done babysitting for a few hours.

“He looks so comfortable.” Ana snickered a little while later as the dropship turbulence, lightly rousing him from deep sleep but not enough to make him open his eyes and give a fuck. The wind could suck a dick.

“Let him sleep, Ana.” Jack sighed heavily, still putting up with Ana’s childish behavior, it seemed.

“But sleeping there of all places? You should have some sense of shame, Jack.” She teased, which immediately make him snap his eyes open and look around. 

Jack was glaring at Ana when Gabriel realized the was a damp spot on Jack’s shirt over the shoulder and realized he fell against’s Jack’s shoulder at some point during the flight and he never bothered to wake him up or move him.

“Sorry.” Gabriel apologized, righting himself in his seat and reclining the chair back like a normal person would before laying his hands over his abdomen as he let his head rest back against the seat.

“It’s fine, Gabe. You hardly ever sleep so I figured it was easier than making you wake up.” Jack casually hand waved and Gabriel felt his racing heart start to relax.

Good, he wasn’t upset with him. That would just make things more awkward between th- What was he thinking? Jack was HIGH for god's sakes! Anything he said should not count at all but he just had to say that stupid fucking three word phrase that got him in a tizzy! Maybe he did think the the blonde naga was kind of cute but he was his commander!

“‘Gabe’, huh? When did you start allowing him to call you nicknames, Gabriel?” She grinned in amusement, he kept his eyes shut but he could just see it on her face as she spoke. He decided to not dignify that with a comment as he let himself relax and fall back asleep. If Jack wasn’t going to make a big deal about the slip up then neither was he. 

Simple as that.

\--

He and Jack went out to do some sun bathing on a blanket beside the best sunning hill nearest to the base base (as Jack claimed), Ana walking out with a basket of tacos Gabriel made earlier to join them a few minutes after she got out of a meeting with the support team. It was warm enough that Jack had his shirt off, his tail curled into a coil under him as he rested his arms over the coil resting the side of his face on it as he soaked up some sun. 

Gabriel wore his usual, jeans, hoodie, and beanie combo, napping rather peacefully on his back with his hand tucked into his hoodie pocket to keep them warm while Jack snoozed next to him. He could really appreciate Jack’s priorities off the clock but not his insane methods like taking off his damn shirt in sixty degree weather. Indiana must be sub-arctic or something for a freakin snake hybrid to sunbathe without a shirt on in this cold weather.

“Hello, you two. Sorry about the wait, I had to reheat the tacos a few seconds so they would be warm.” Amari spoke cheerfully as he sat down between Jack and Gabriel, reclining back against Jack’s coil and propping her legs on Gabriel’s stomach after pushing her shoes off. She set the basket down next to her and pulled out one of the wrapped one to plop onto Jack’s back (with a bit of effort to reach) then took another one out to plop onto Gabriel’s chest. “Up, up, you two!” Ana clapped her hands together to make the two sleepy heads groan as apparently invading their personal space did not rouse them from their nap like she originally wanted.

“Amari… Come on…” Gabriel sighed as she snapped the band of his beanie lightly to annoy him.

“Don’t give me that, Gabriel. If Fareeha were here I would pull the blanket out from under both of you and roll you down the hill, now get up and eat.”

“And people say I’M a monster…” Jack grumbled as he pushed himself off his coiled tail and let out an ‘omf’ as Amari tossed his sweater at his face.

“Be decent for a change, Jack.”

Gabriel snickered as he sat up and watched Jack pull his sweater on but not before glaring at Ana for practically breaking his neck with that throw. “Shut up, Reyes.” Jack grumbled as he slipped his arms through the sleeves and yanked it down over his stomach.

“I keep telling you that being an exibitionist would land your ass in a world of pain with Amari around, Morrison.” Gabriel teased as he unwrapped his taco and started munching down, watching the naga pop his head through the top hole of the sweater with a disapproving scowl on his face as he turned to glare at him. “What?! We have fucking sun lamps in your room for a reason, Morrison!”

Jack picked up his own wrapped up taco and peeled the foil back to start eating one of them on top of the pile of three stacked on each other. “It’s like how you hate running on a treadmill and rather run outside, Reyes! I prefer to do my sunning outside!”

“So, you don’t mind being called an exibitionist then?” Gabriel grinned as he was about to take a bite from his taco.

“Not around you, I don’t, obviously.” Jack shot back in annoyance, making Ana snort harshly and stunning Gabriel.

He recovered quickly, feeling a bit of warmth on his cheeks before taking a defiant bite out of his taco. “Weirdo.” Gabriel grumbled out.

\--

“You’re getting in that dropship the moment it hits the ground, Morrison, no excuses or I’ll drag you into it myself.” Gabriel huffed as he and Jack shared a tent together in the Siberian tundra. Jack had a custom-made thermal sleeping bag meant to keep the entirety of his body warm but a sudden temperature drop in the region plush a fierce snowstorm on top of it was pushing Jack to his limits.

Gabriel was in the customer sleeping bag with Jack, him shivering so hard against him as Gabriel pulled him as close as possible, not minding one bit that he was coiling around him for extra warmth. Jack was trying desperately to sleep and Gabriel kept rubbing Jack through his jacket and whatever he could touch to keep the naga comfortable. Why he let Jack talk him into bringing him out here with him was up there with the dumbest shit he had ever done in his entire life, jeopardizing Jack’s life as he wasn’t meant to be in such cold weather. None of them were, in reality, but he seriously could not tolerate the harshness of these frigid temperatures, especially his lower snake half.

“I-I’m r-r-real-”

“Shh. I got you, Jackie. Do what you need to in order to get warm, don’t waste it on speaking.” Gabriel comforted him, finding him pressing his lips to the blonde hair tucked under his chin, his face pressed against the bare crook of his chest after Jack unzipped his jacket partially to get at the warmth Gabriel gave off. He would get naked if that was what Jack needed to find the warmth he needed to sleep but knew better than to ask, to cross the line, to make his affections more obvious than they already were for the hybrid.

Jack’s claws gently reached between them, zippers pulled down, clothes pushed off Gabriel’s body, even out of the sleeping bag that could barely hold both of them without severely straining the hems keeping it together. He was only in his boxers now and Jack gently re-coiled around his body, Gabriel’s arms draped over Jack’s human torso, keeping the humanoid now-similarly naked torso pressed up against him, rubbing soothing circles into his back, and gently whispering reassuring words, unaware of how terrified he would be if anyone else was coiled around him like this.

He was so gentle in holding Gabriel with his whole body that it didn’t cross his mind that Jack could very well be trying to suffocate him like actual snakes did to their pray. No, it was more like the warmest embrace he ever felt and one he didn’t want to end as they both slowly slipped off to sleep in each other’s arms.

\--

“You not going to ask the obvious, Amari?” Gabriel asked as the medics got to work on warming Jack up under the heat lamps, him placing their travel bag down on the ground. 

Ana was the one who led the rescue operation to pick them both up from the blizzard. She shook her head, even though she was the one who went into the tent and saw Gabriel wrapped intimately with jack in his now-destroyed blanket. Nothing happened beyond them staying close together for warmth but he understood that things had changed between him and Jack, even if nothing happened. He let it happen.

“You did what you had to make sure you both made it through the storm, Gabriel.” She commented softly, striking Gabriel as odd since she never let anything vaguely amusing slip past her radar. “Besides, I want you two happy. You should try to solidify the bridge between you both.”

“You know I can’t do that.”

“I know, but I’m just speaking my mind. Maybe you should speak your own more often.” She remarked cryptically and he scowled, moreso at himself than at Amari.

\--

Gabriel became more hyper aware of Jack presence from that day on. Every brush of their shoulders, their hands lingerings when passing items to one another, the feeling of his back against his in combat, and how they moved in perfect synchronization regardless they were two different species. His heart ached every time Gabriel opened his mouth and nothing could slip out of it and Jack smiled as if it wasn’t the most obvious thing that he was in love with him.

How badly he wanted to kiss his stupid, cute face and tell him that he meant the world to him.

Jack beat him to it though.

Pulled Gabriel in and pressed his lips to his own one night out of the blue and it was the best feeling of relief he ever felt in his entire life.

“I’m sorry-”

Gabriel kissed him back before he could finish that fucking sentence of his and carded one hand gently through his blonde locks as Jack moaned softly in approval. Gabriel kept one arm around jack’s human waist, keeping him pressed up against Gabriel’s chest as he looked at Jack like he was his world.

“I couldn’t get Siberia out of my head.” Gabriel confessed. 

“Not even before that?” Jack asked curiously as he brought a clawed hand up to gently pull Gabe’s beanie off and run it through the short curly locks he kept hidden under it.

Gabriel felt himself swallow hard, his eyes averting Jack’s blue ones. “Was it that obvious?”

“No, but Siberia certainly made a lot of things line up in my head.” Jack chuckled softly, moving his hand down to cup the side of Gabriel’s face and caress his cheek with the outside portion of his thumb, trying to not scrape his skin with his dagger-sharp claw.

“You need to file those puppies down, Jack. Regulations, remember?” Gabriel remarked in amusement as Jack did accidentally nicked his cheek and let out a curse.

Jack sighed as he rolled his eyes, about to take his hand away from Gabriel’s cheek before Gabe laid his hand over Jack’s, pressing the side of his face more into the warmth of Jack’s palm as he closed his eyes. God, he wanted this so badly for years but could never say anything, risking both of their careers and their friendship on top of it. 

“You confessed to me a few months ago, Jackie. Remember when you got hit by sniper fire and I had to carry you through half the city?”

Now Jack was the one swallowing hard, tensing up as his pale face turned a light shade of red that Gabriel found so endearing when it happened, especially if Gabe was the one who brought it on. “What?!”

“Yeah. You were doped out of your mind in the medical tent next to me and told me that you loved me and thought I was cute. Maybe mentioning something about wanting to kiss my beard?” Gabriel gently teased as Jack dragged his free hand down the front of his face before pinching the bridge of his nose. “Oh my fucking god.”

“I didn’t take it as a serious confession, so that’s why I never brought it up until now.”

“I fucking hate you, Gabriel Reyes.” Jack lightly huffed as he looked away from him.

“Love you too, Boy Scout.” Gabriel spoke affectionately as he laced their fingers together over his cheek and gave them a reassuring squeeze.

**Author's Note:**

> an adult continuation of this fic is in the works.


End file.
